Pete Townshend's admiration for the Sex Pistols went beyond mutual respect between punk and classic rock, directly inspiring The Who's 1978 track "Who Are You." The Who guitarist has long acknowledged the influence punk acts like the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Vibrators had on him, even naming Never Mind the Bollocks his favourite album of the era, but the song's origin shows the connection was more personal than musical, growing out of a chance encounter after a gruelling business meeting.

Townshend wrote in the Who Are You liner notes that the song stemmed from meeting Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook at a pub following a "13-hour encounter" with manager Allen Klein. The track was recorded on 4th October 1977, just 24 days before Never Mind the Bollocks was released, and Townshend described its lyric as "nihilistic," though Roger Daltrey's more aggressive vocal delivery, singing "Who the fuck are you" rather than the written "Who, who, who are you," shifted its tone. Townshend also recalled that Jones and Cook, despite their anarchist image, seemed "sincerely concerned" about his declining state at the time.